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To the Editor

No one wants to acknowledge our orderly, well-planned lives can be disrupted or destroyed by Mother Nature. Every geographical location has natural risk factors. A person can face scorching heat, snow and ice storms, avalanches, earthquakes, sinkholes, wildfires, floods, flash floods, haboobs (blinding dust storms), tornados and hurricanes, or a terrible combination of these.

Despite risks, people need to live where they are happy and fulfilled. Living along the coast or on the Outer Banks, we are most likely to face hurricanes. We don’t know when the next hurricane will come or how strong it will be, but a hurricane’s coming.

Hurricanes are stern taskmasters and teach their lessons well.

There is one thing you absolutely must know! In order to remain operational our doctors, nurses, rescue, fire and police personnel and their families evacuate in our emergency vehicles.

Individuals who ignore mandatory evacuation orders and decide to stay and ride out the storm will be totally on their own. Our emergency services should be at least partially back in place a few days after the hurricane has passed. If you are injured, can you wait that long?

There another factor to consider when weighing risks. Our excellent, twenty-three bed, Outer Banks Health Hospital won’t remain fully staffed and may also experience extreme damage.

So how do we get ready for a hurricane.

IN ADVANCE

1. A storm shutter contractor can prepare corrugated aluminum or clear (so you can see out), high strength plastic panel storm shutters for your windows and sliding (patio) doors. Your stored storm shutters will be ready for your quick application when a hurricane is approaching. A cheaper, but far less secure alternative is to screw plywood sheets over your windows.

2. Heavy duty garage doors, tracks and rollers are available. These doors can have “hurricane beams” bolted the width of each garage door panel.

3. Cut bushes and tree limbs well away from the sides and roof of your house. Firemen and pest control experts recommend being able to easily walk between your ornamental bushes and your house. (Wax myrtle bushes are slow to ignite, but then they burn like diesel fuel.) Tree limbs can be thinned out to reduce wind resistance. Dead trees or trees leaning toward your building should be removed.

4. In extreme winds, planks and firewood are like giant machine gun bullets that go through walls. Either get rid of the wood or tie it down.

5. The top of your concrete birdbath will sail like a big, heavy frisbee. Turn the dish upside down on the ground and lay the vertical post flat.

6. Tie down or remove gates.

7. Get rid of extraneous stuff in your house and store things in secure cabinets or closets.

8. Try to use up frozen and refrigerated food. When your home loses power for an extended period any frozen or refrigerated food will spoil.

NOW IT’S SERIOUS

9. Check your vehicles thoroughly. Check oil levels, power steering fluid, transmission fluid, brake fluid, tire pressure (including the spare tire), wipers and finally fill the windshield washer reservoir. It’s a good idea to have a set of spare wiper blades too. Then fill your vehicles with fuel. A vehicle you don’t take with you may be damaged, but still usable or you can siphon fuel from it.

10. Stock up on bottled water, non-perishable and canned food. Make sure you have a hand operated can opener. A knife can open a can, but why take that risk?

11. Unscrew, drain, coil and securely tie all garden hoses. A hose left attached to an exterior faucet (bib) on the house will act like a whip in high winds. It will knock out windows, tear up shakes or siding and virtually destroy a vehicle within its reach.

12. Stack pool and deck furniture in a protected location. If there is no storage space, throw plastic or aluminum furniture in the pool. The wind won’t blow it around and you can fish it out when you return. If you have a glass-top table, take it inside. If you can’t do anything else with a heavy wooden picnic table, turn it over on its top. That way just the legs will catch the full force of the wind.

13. Make sure your and your neighbors garbage and recycling containers are emptied. That extra effort may save picking up hundreds of pounds of windblown garbage after the storm. Place the empty bins in a secure location or tie them off to a piling or tree.

14. Unplug everything then throw the master switch in your breaker box to OFF.

15. Turn off the valve on your propane tank (and the tank on your grill). If you have natural gas, close that valve. One of the scariest things is a floating or flying propane tank spewing gas.

16. Fill your bathtub with water. Toilet tanks are another source of water. With that in mind you might clean toilet tanks with care.

17. Put bottles of water and packaged food in your car.

18. Pack essential clothing and shoes, work clothes, work boots, work hats and work gloves, safety goggles and ear plugs.

19. Flashlights with fresh batteries will be needed.

20. Computers, cell phones and iPads are vital. Fully charge your devices and make sure you have car chargers.

21. If there is no power, the surge protector/battery backup for your computer can also be power source for your TV and radio.

22. An “old school” hand-crank NOAA radio will give you current info about the hurricane.

23. Be sure you have vital papers, birth certificates, marriage certificate, Social Security cards, health insurance cards, Medicaid or Medicare cards, home insurance policies and car insurance policies. Hopefully you won’t need any of this paperwork. And don’t forget important albums and photos. The loss of treasured photos would be deeply felt.

24. Make sure you have prescriptions and medical necessities.

25. Turn your water off at the street valve. If you don’t have a “street key” a crescent wrench or pliers will work. Turn the brass bar topped butterfly valve ninety degrees from its original position. In the off position it is crosswise to the direction of the water pipe.

26. Take your pets with you. If you absolutely can’t take them with you, give them every fighting chance. DO NOT LEAVE PETS TIED DOWN OR PENNED UP IN ANY WAY. Animals have excellent survival instincts.

27. Lock up and leave.

28. Top off your vehicle’s fuel tank when the opportunity presents itself. You don’t know what you will face or how far you will have to flee.

Use these ideas to make your own lists that fits your unique situation. I gave an earlier hurricane list to a real estate client for their rental house. When I checked their house before we evacuated, their renters had done a wonderful job of taking care of everything on the list. But the poolside table with the clear plastic top was still sitting on their pool deck with its center umbrella wide open. Their renters missed the point of the list. (You’ll notice I included the outdoor table in this list.)

Preparation takes time – VALUABLE TIME! START EARLY!

One extra caution – a hurricane is not the time for a hurricane party. You may have to make life-saving decisions. You will need maximum alertness and physical control. If you and your friends polish off one or two cases of beer, you are a cluster of potential victims.

When the hurricane passes, I hope you find your preparations paid off and your property suffered minimal damage. If the hurricane was a category 4 or 5 and there was flooding or fire, your home and/or business may be damaged or destroyed. But you may still find you are having an easier time of it and the damage is less severe because of your advance planning and preparation.

No matter how bad the damage is, if you, your family and friends are all safe, YOU WON!

John Chiles

Southern Shores

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